When the historians look back at the 2009 European Elections, I suspect they will marvel at the extent to which the field was already full of "You know they're corrupt, vote for me because you don't know I am" candidates before the Torygraph brought the roof of the House of Commons crashing down around MPs ears. It's a shame that it will have to be the historians who do the marvelling, because
Today I received my postal vote for the European Elections. No prize for guessing who I voted for. But looking down the huge ballot paper I wondered where Labour had disappeared to, until I realised that they were actually on the ballot paper as "The Labour Party" which meant they were listed alphabetically under T [...]
{Surveying on Granville Road} Ed, Laura and I have launched our new Stroud Green parking and travel survey after testing it in a number of the roads in the area. We've launched the door-to-door survey in response to the Council's refusal to hold a consultation on parking issues - despite promising they would do so after the Crouch End CPZ was introduced. The picture of me chatting to residents of Granville Road was taken by Ed on the first day we went out surveying together. Several residents on Granville told us how a previous parking petition they had organised had ...
Feeling gutted that I'm not flying off to Rome this morning to see the mighty reds win back to back Champions League Finals. Any guess who?
Thu 28th
23:32
Well i found this in the Manchester evening news an article by one of it's top writers any views?
BNP's dark past David Ottewell May 28, 2009 THE British National Party has poured huge resources into trying to disguise its neo-Nazi roots. The BNP was an off-shoot of the New National Front, itself a breakaway group from the National Front. It was founded by John Tyndall, who used slogans like 'Hitler was right' and 'What we need [...]
George Eaton writes on the New Statesman site: Conservative blogs have established a clear lead over their left-wing rivals, according to a new report published today.The study, carried out by Social Media Affairs, found that 19 per cent of bloggers identified as Conservative Party supporters compared to 16 per cent each for Labour and the Liberal Democrats.The report Politics Online 2009 coincides with the launch of Social Media Affairs, the UK's first major directory of political blogs. I do not know if we are doing well or Labour is doing badly, but it is remarkable that we are level with ...
Well just like to say i have been to see the Salford Pop Stars 2009 with my wife and a couple of friends. I felt it was a fantastic night with some brilliant young kids. And guess what a Swinton Lass won it well done Girl. It's so easy to have a go at our [...]
I heard that Iain Dale bloke on The World at One today defending Julie Kirkbride. Decent fella, he said she's a luverly girl, trying to hold down a decent job while her brother looks after her child. Quite right, say I. Women need to work to support their husbands and this Ms Kirkbride is doing a great job. And what's wrong with her building her brother a little extension to live in? I'm happy to pay my taxes for that. My friend's a working mum. She's also a district councillor. So I says to her, 'Don't worry about looking after ...
It's back to the usual time for BBC Question Time today and hence the Live Chat on this blog will start at 10:30pm. I am really looking forward to tonight's episode which features Caroline Flint, Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan (famous for having torn Gordon Brown a new one!), Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Jo Swinson (go Jo!), Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, UKIP leader Nigel Farage, and French businessman Pierre-Yves Gerbeau. You can also follow people's comments on Twitter via the #bbcqt hashtag (you can also follow me here on Twitter by the way - I will try to join ...
Congratulations to David Moyes who on Tuesday claimed his third LMA Manager of the year award, setting a new record that even Alex Ferguson hasn't managed. Moyesy has been superb for Everton since he arrived as a breath of fresh air to sweep away the dour and dark memories of the Walter Smith era. He saved us [...]
I cannot believe that Tom Harris has taken the view that the reforms suggested by Nick Clegg are political posturing. For a start isn't he listening to what the people are saying and the Lib Dems have long said that a lot of things he has highlighted need changing for transparency, fairness and for the good of democracy. But the line he is taking is quite two faced. It's all well and good Tom Harris saying now 'if the existing [interim] system had been put in place years ago, virtually none of the excesses we've seen would have taken place.' ...
OK, {[info] - personal} miss_s_b cooked us a lovely veggie cottage pie this evening, with cheap garlic bread using a baguette from Tesco's bargain bin. So I need to cook pudding after Shrub's gone to bed. I've done loads of steam puddings recently, as well as cookies, muffins, biscuits and bread variants (recipes might get posted on request, I still have the bread recipe in drafts somewhere). So... Any suggestions? Preferably not involving nuts (because I'm allergic) or chocolate (as Jennie's allergic). Stuff involving syrup or jam is an added bonus but not essential.
The Gazette website has a report on the inquest into the tragic fatal accident on Rodford Way near Abbotswood last November. The young girl's friend said that they did not use the nearby underpass because there was a group of youths at the entrance shouting abuse. The coroner said "There is absolutely no evidence that the girls were larking about, playing running across the road or doing anything other than trying to cross safely" and recorded a verdict of accidental death.
Question Time returns to its previous time slot of 2240 this evening, and the BBC website tells us the panel will be: Europe Minister Caroline Flint, Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan, Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Jo Swinson, Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, UKIP leader Nigel Farage, and French businessman Pierre-Yves Gerbeau. In the last week before the European elections, the programme is billed as a Euro special from London. If the politicos can avoid being booed off stage merely for being politicos, there are loads of interesting ways the debate can go. Caroline vs Caroline; Greens vs Lib Dems on ...
As regular visitors will have noted, this site has been silent over the past few days, as a mark of respect to Sheila Roy, who sadly died at the end of last week. Sheila was a leading light in so much of the community activity of the West End - the Community Council and Friends of Magdalen Green in particular. Sheila got things done; for the West End and for the charities she supported. Only last month, she abseiled from the Forth Bridge, in aid of Alzheimer Scotland. The photo (right) is of Sheila and me last year at the ...
I was amused to read a link to one of my postings yesterday from a Green Party activists entitled "Lib Dem Barcharts Always Lie". Interestingly he decided to take only one of my barcharts I produced as a bit of fun in order to justify that all Lib Dems are liars. Why did he take only one of those graphs if, as he claims, all Lib Dem bar charts lie ? Well it does not take a genius to work it out. It's because the other bar chart is almost completely accurate, as was the one I produced last week. ...
A man did after his Sat Nav told him to drive on a rail way line and he did just that but is it his fault many would argue yes but others would argue no. First of all I think its not his fault because the Sat Nav is meant to give you directions. If someone was to go to a city they had never been before to get out of a ring road only a Sat Nav could help you so yes Sat Nav's are good for directions but do you always trust them. When you are driving you ...
Nick Clegg talks about how we can all reform government and Parliament, restoring trust in politics and handing power to people, putting you back in charge. Website: http://www.TakeBackPower.org {Share/Save/Bookmark}
I wrote some months ago about the invisible man of Norfolk politics, Christopher Fraser, MP for South West Norfolk. This man lost his previous seat to the Lib Dems in Poole back in 2001, but despite this, South West Norfolk Tories chose him ahead of an array of better qualified and often local people with an armful of credentials to be a decent local MP. Having been selected as the Tory candidate, he then refused to take part in public meetings during the election and is notable for his unwillingness to be contacted. The Eastern Daily Press have reported on ...
There are already 11 MPs who have said they will step down at the next election as a direct result of the expenses scandal. How many more there will be is anyones guess. I have heard estimates of 200 or more potentially. The next House of Commons could have the highest new intake of any in history at this rate. David Hughes has raised an interesting point though on the Telegraph Three Line Whip blog. He is asking what about the big fish and he has a very good point. None of the MPs who have announced they are stepping ...
Following the decision of the Council's licensing committee earlier this month to suspend the licence of the Kings Tavern on Kings Road, we have been contacted by constituents alarmed to see this venue continuing to trade as normal. I received the following email from licensing officers which hopefully clarifies the position: "Following the committee hearing, Committee Services circulate the draft minutes of the hearing, which are checked by panel members, legal and licensing. When agreed, the minutes are published. On their receipt, which in this case was approx 16.00 hours on 27/05/09, a letter, which in this case will hopefully go out ...
The Tories running the London Borough of Barnet do not appear to be reading from the same script as Mr Cameron when it comes to spending tax payers' money. LDV has previously reported on some of the antics of new Barnet Mayor and London Assembly member Brian Coleman. An update on the Not the Barnet Times blog would appear to indicate that Mike Freer, leader of Barnet Council and Tory PPC for Finchley and Golders Green, has some questions to answer as well. It is interesting to note that the author of Not the Barnet Times is David Miller, a ...
It is nice to know some things will never change in this hurely-burley world. Tom Harris MP has decided to take another rather lame swipe at Nick Clegg following his Guardian article. He obviously doesn't like Clegg personally but you might think that rather than snide comments he might try and engage with some of [...]
All, Today Nick Clegg today set out a plan to restore trust in the political process by putting power back in to the hands of the people. The plan sets out radical reforms which can be achieved within 100 days including the ability for constituents to sack their MPs, overhauling MPs' expenses, abolishing the House of Lords and electoral reform. Nick Clegg said that Parliament should not break for its summer recess until the constitutional crisis is resolved. Nick said: "The expenses scandal is only the tip of the iceberg. Our whole political system is broken and in need of ...
Yesterday morning I was at the Town Hall bright and early for a special meeting of the Mayor and Cabinet, called to discuss the statement of community views we passed at the February meeting of the Lee Green Assembly . We used the (little known) power of the local assembly to place an item on the agenda of Mayor & Cabinet. The statement reads as follows: The Lee Green Assembly notes: • The update we received from Lewisham Council's Head of Transport at our meeting in September 2008 • The consultation which has taken place on extension of the Hither ...
The Lib Dems new party political broadcast following on from Nick's proposals in today's press, calling on people to take back power, and change politics for good. www.takebackpower.org more about "Nick Clegg – Change politics for good", posted with vodpod
#5 - We still have a Private Sector Hurray for evil Capitalists doing things for profit. It may be a shrinking part of the economy, but it still manages to pay for itself and the entire public sector. Try not to think too hard about what could be done with all that money if that wasn't the case - you'll only upset yourself #4 - The Internet is still Free Sure, as an unregulated, untaxed system allowing full and uncontrolled access to pretty much anything and everything - the ultimate in lassez faire frameworks for communications and trade - it's ...
The best of luck to Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat MP on tonight's Question Time. She's talented, intelligent, engaging, fiercely principled, and one of the few MPs to have been publishing her expenses online for many months. But, because she's the youngest MP, and a woman, and good-looking - and, I suspect, because she's a Liberal Democrat - the Daily Telegraph last week dumped a torrent of misogynist smears on her. With wealthy Tories claiming for servants' quarters, moats and duck houses, and not-so-wealthy Labour MPs dodging taxes and claiming for non-existent mortgages, what did the Torygraph attack Jo for? ...
In a follow on from Stephen's post yesterday giving details of donations to the Liberal Democrats, I can now put on my LDV Bursar hat and announce that the summary of LDV accounts are available online to members of our forum. I give details of our income from donations and advertising, and how we spent it last year. I also give a few ideas of how we might spend our money next year. But I'm afraid as ever, it ends with an appeal for cash: We continue to warmly welcome donations! The donations figure above represents only 11 individual donors ...
Jonathan Morgan has made a hard hitting speech tonight on the use of public money and regaining public trust. He sets out a number of reforms to the Assembly's expenses system he would like to see introduced and argues that the Welsh Government needs to introduce robust, disciplined budgetting. I suspect that his speech will be most widely reported though for the explicit criticism it makes of the Welsh Conservative Leader, Nick Bourne: Politicians who have claimed inappropriately or illegitimately, whether it be phantom mortgages, i-Pods, plasma televisions, trouser-presses or duck islands for their ponds, have proven their judgement has ...
It's great to see the centre of Wallington looking so attractive with new hanging baskets and plants in the flower beds. These new plants have been provided thanks to a multi-million pound investment by Liberal Democrats on Sutton Council. The Beddington & Wallington Local Committee was given almost £450,000 to spend on improvements such as planting, playground improvements, cycling schemes and other initiatives that local people wanted to see. If you have any ideas for future improvements please let me know.
Fiona Hall Liberal Democrat Euro Candidate and Simon Hughes MP visited shops in Redcar town centre on Tuesday 26th June to carry out a survey on how small businesses are coping with the recession. Simon Hughes is the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and MP for North Southwark & Bermondsey. Pictured left to right Simon Hughes MP, Cllr Chris Abbott, Cllr Irene Curr, Fiona Hall MEP, Ian Swales Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Redcar, Cllr Josie Crawford and Cllr Glyn Nightingale. What a pleasure it was to see Simon in Redcar and what ...
I snapped Lynne Featherstone and Cllr Rachel Allison at the Woodman pub on the Archway Road, where we met the licensee, Tom Helliwell, to talk about how the pub would benefit through being part of a 'community toilet scheme'. Paying pubs and restaurants to provide a public loo has been pioneered by Liberal Democrat councils like Richmond-upon-Thames. The Woodman pub is the nearest point of relief for those caught short when leaving nearby Highgate station. As Tom says:"The community toilet scheme would be beneficial for local traders like me as we don't want to turn people away, but we can't ...
I have to say I'm impressed that a group of politicians, particularly in some ways Lib Dem politicians, have come up with a quick, easy and achievable way of carrying out at least some of the reform to clean up politics that is so badly needed. I know how much Lib Dems love to discuss the minutiae of the relative merits of electoral systems and other sorts of geekery, so this clearly and briefly worded programme is even more of an achievement than it looks. All it takes is a good dollop of political will and a willingness to postpone ...
Tuesday June 16th between 4pm to 8pm sees a free micro-chipping day for dogs and cats at the North Lambeth Housing Office, 91 Kennington Lane, SE11 4HQ Although it is aimed specifically at residents on Lambeth Living managed estates (ie Lambeth estates), anyone can bring their dog or cat along. Specialists including the RSPCA and the police consider micro-chipping to be a good way of re-uniting lost pets with their owners and also the most effective method to tackle anti-social behaviour from dogs as it provides a record of the owner's identity.
I have reported a number of bollard damages in Chorlton over the past week. Others have been repaired before I got the chance. There are random points where shrapnel from cars appear. There are also a couple of cases where i am working with residents to improve road safety in their area. Cars are travelling too fast, the Council have made some junctions more hazardous and congestion is increasing the hazards. I have organised a number of speed tests throughout Chorlton and whereas the results don't always prove our case they do show some speed reductions. The difficulty is legislating ...
Thu 28th
17:39Well the councillors allowances are out next month. Take a look at the Liberal Democratic first then...
Why do New LABOUR claim all these special allowances? we get more than enough at £10.000 per year why do people take extra. It is a public Duty not a full time job. Well message to Mrs Blears Swinton South Counciollors claim only the bare basic allowance nothing more, but i hope the people of this [...]
Now Christopher Fraser MP for South West Norfolk is standing down. He of the trees.
Thu 28th
17:24Who said this job was easy two days one flat mobile and worn shoes we managed to stop the cutting do...
We Lost out on one but we have managed to get temporary orders in place to stop the wholesale cutting down of the Cherry trees in cherry drive.Thank you for coming out to help Urban Vision i can't for the life of me see how this was allowed to commence but all's well that ends [...]
Hopefully over breakfast this morning you will have seen the Guardian's front page splash on Nick Clegg's call for MPs to spend the next 100 days in Parliament radically reforming our political system. Other papers and the broadcasters are picking up this story and it is clear that Nick's demand that MPs curtail their lengthy summer holidays to stay and sort out the problem has been very well received. Later tonight you will be able to watch on TV our Party Political Broadcast which Mark Pack has already linked to. And Liberal Democrat members should have received an email with ...
Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds Central, was in Little London for a Q&A session which I was fortunate enough to attend. I asked the first question about what he thought could be done to fix politics following the expenses scandal. He said that the first thing was to fix the things that had caused the [...]
In his speech at the Open University this week, salesman Cameron called for "Progressive goals through Conservative means" as he merely rearranged the contents of his political shop window. Analysis by PoliticsHome shows that voters aren't buying David Cameron's rhetoric about "massive, sweeping, radical distribution of power." "Do you think that if David Cameron became Prime Minister, he would carry through such a radical redistribution of power, or would he be more cautious than this?" This was the question put to non-aligned voters as well as supporters of the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Labour. "Overall, a strong seventy per cent ...
Oasis will be playing three concerts on the 4, 6 and 7 June and on each day there will be a series of road closures in place in and around the concert venue at Heaton Park. Road closures will come in to place on the evening of each concert from 9.30pm onwards until the audience has dispersed and the roads can safely be opened, which is anticipated to be around 1am. The road closures will affect: • Bury Old Road between Heywood Road and Scholes Lane/Sheepfoot Lane; • Sheepfoot Lane, between Bury Old Road and Middleton Road. Diversion signs will ...
I have been interested to read over the past week how a major rift is developing between Tories in Test Valley and their national counterparts. David Cameron and company appear increasingly out of touch with what is happening locally and what their local activists think. First we had the news last week that Romsey Tories feared a visit from a shadow cabinet member would have a "negative effect" on their election campaigning. Full details are reported on the BBC news website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8064217.stm Then we hear Andover county councillor David Kirk has rubbished Shadow Education secretary Michael Gove and his ...
I've been using this website for a few weeks now and find it really interesting to see what parties are putting out all over the country (shame about the name though!). The Lib Dems are often accused of saying one thing in one place and the popposite in another. Well if we really are doing that it will show up pretty quickly on here and I haven't seen any evidence of it yet! This leaflet is my favourite so far. The Labour party putting out a leaflet where they talk about one of their candidates protesting against their own government. ...
Just had a missed call from the Daily Telegraph. When I rang back the recorded message said "You've been called by the Daily Telegraph. We are sorry to have missed you. There is nothing to worry about. We will endeavour to call you some other time. Goodbye." Hopefully it was just a marketing call.
All things considered, not the wisest of choices by the new Wiltshire Council to send out examples of how to complete your ballot paper which show someone voting Conservative: {Wiltshire postal votes} A particularly odd decision given how common instructions are which show dummy party and candidate names.
Another one for the "how not to handle the media" file courtesy of Brent Labour MP Dawn Butler (she of the unhappy letter and the disappearing statement, not to mention the numerous expense issues): AN ELEVENTH hour climb down saw one of the borough's MPs back out of a face-to-face parliamentary briefing to explain expenses claims. Dawn Butler MP for Brent South cancelled crisis talks with the [Willesden and Brent] Times at Portcullis House in Westminster by text message just as a reporter arrived at the Houses of Parliament for the scheduled meeting on May 21. Ms Butler claims a ...
{takepowerbacklogo.jpg} Nick Clegg has had a great few weeks taking a strong stand on cleaning up Parliament and leading the call for a complete overhaul of our political system. Last week at Prime Minister's Question Time he challenged Gordon Brown to reform our electoral systems. Now even Brown's own ministers are echoing Nick's call. Tonight he will be making the case to: Give people the right to sack MPs Stop all big party political donations Elect the House of Lords Make the voting system fair - so that governments can't just get all that power and all that money with ...
From The Times, an exchange with David Cameron: ...how many properties do you own? "I own a house in North Kensington which you've been to and my house in the constituency in Oxfordshire and that is, as far as I know, all I have." A house in Cornwall? "No, that is, Samantha used to have a timeshare in South Devon but she doesn't any more." And there isn't a fourth? "I don't think so - not that I can think of." Please don't say, "Not that I can think of." "You might be... Samantha owns a field in Scunthorpe but ...
There is a great new interview with Nick Clegg in the New Statesman in which he doesn't hold back on his thoughts on the establishment system and parties. I thoroughly recommend it!
I had been thinking for sometime that the blog was due a makeover, but just couldn't be bothered to sort it out. Then last week I needed to move LibDemBlogs over to a new server, I planned to move the blog with it, but at some point in the future when I had some free time. Turned out that the old server needed renewing now, so the plan to leave the blog for a bit was turned into a Bank Holiday of coding. Then with the blog on the new server I just got a white page. I had modified ...
Nadine Dorries MP's blog was taken down and I wrote about it here on this blog yet when it came back no one except for Dizzy reported it had come back. Personally it looks like Nadine Dorries has stuck with her current blog provider and just given the blog a revamp and personally I think she made a big mistake. Dorries should have moved her blog to Wordpress or Blogger and said good riddance to her old content management software as it was the reason that lead to her site being taken down. If Dorries had switched over, today her ...
Shades of John McCain's political blunder in this Times piece: So how many properties do you own? "I own a house in North Kensington which you've been to and my house in the constituency in Oxfordshire and that is, as far as I know, all I have." A house in Cornwall? "No, that is, Samantha used to have a timeshare in South Devon but she doesn't any more." And there isn't a fourth? "I don't think so - not that I can think of." Please don't say, "Not that I can think of." "You might be... Samantha owns a field ...
Thu 28th
14:00
Reforming our Democracy - why not just tear down the building while you're at it, Nick?
At last, the debate about reforming our political institutions has been seized by the scruff of the neck and given a good shake. Better still, it's our side doing it. I'm bored with listening to David Cameron play off one side against the other. His calls for reform are meaningless without some content, and, as usual, our friend in the blue has been lacking in substance. This could, of course, be because the idea of reform doesn't really come naturally to him, but as the PR man in him comes to the surface, he is smart enough to know that ...
Ok, I've got La Roux stuck in my head!!! must vent! All a bit 80's and electro... and very catchy! Dammit!
Thu 28th
13:52Officer suspended for allegedly failing to reveal to senior management that one of the homes had bee...
Kids'home boss suspended May 28, 2009 THE man in charge of all children's homes in Salford has been suspended after three damning reports by government inspectors. Mike Kelly is also facing disciplinary action for Teams from Ofsted arrived unannounced to carry out inspections at three children's homes in March and all were found to be unsatisfactory. Concerns were [...]
Both Julie Kirkbride and Margaret Moran are to stand down at the next election. Just before she announced her own political termination, Kirkbride said that attacks on her might deter other women to stand for parliament. This is a baffling argument. So she is saying that women need to have their parliamentary professional life entwined via "double dipping" second home expenses with their husband, a £50,000 expenses paid extension for their brother and employment for their sister, is she?
Diet's an old word for Parliament. Today, Nick Clegg's combined both meanings in a practical, timetabled programme of reform that could start on Monday and slim down our bloated political system in 100 days of MPs' work (shedding their Summer holidays). Lock the bastards in to open politics up - take back power! I want the right to sack my MP. I want to know MPs can't be bought off by party donors. I want the right to find out what government is doing. I want the power of government to be cut down. I want my vote to count. ...
As regular readers and cuddlers will know I generally leave the political stuff to Mister Stephen. However, my good friend and fluffy pachyderm Mister Millennium Dome has spoken I'd like to urge you all to read it. Hamble, Jemima, Humpty Dumpty, Big and Little Ted. Gordon the Gopher, Ed the Duck. We need your support as establishment characters within the BBC to get the voice and views of Captain Clegg saviour of our democracy unto the airwaves, tellybox, wirelessbox, interwebby. Over at ITV I evoke Bungle, George and Zippy to do the same. Garfield, Snoopy, Fred Bassett and the rest ...
With two more MPs deciding to step down following outcry over the expenses they have claimed, it looks certain to be an interesting election when Gordon decides to 'go to the country'.I have yet to find a list of MPs who will not be standing next time around, especially those who have stepped down because of their expenses claim, but what effect could this have on the election. Could these seats
Nick Clegg has today launched a rather exciting campaign, Take Back Power. I really do hope it takes off; it frankly pisses all over David Cameron's pledge to "give serious consideration to" a few half-measures. Nick's plan includes: 1. Commitment to accept Kelly expenses reform in full 2. Recall power for MPs suspended for misconduct 3. House of Lords reform 4. Party funding reform 5. Fixed term Parliaments 6. Enabling legislation for a referendum on AV+ 7. Changes to House of Commons procedure to reduce executive power You can sign the petition to support the campaign here. OK, so I ...
Nick Clegg has had a great few weeks taking a strong stand on cleaning up Parliament and leading the call for a complete overhaul of our political system. Last week at Prime Minister's Question Time he challenged Gordon Brown to reform our electoral systems. Now even Brown's own ministers are echoing Nick's call. I hope that you have been able to see the lead article in today's Guardian which sets out a 100-day plan to reform government, you can read it online at
We've brought you plenty of news about the BNP's electoral efforts in the past few weeks - how there's nothing British about the BNP; how they falsely implied a Guardsman was a supporter when he most definitely is not; indeed how all of their listed supporters are actually just stock photos; and how they can't count. Now it's the turn of UKIP to struggle with actual numbers. Their deep pockets have paid for dozens of billboards across Britain's cities, many emblazoned with Winston Churchill and the catchy little factoid that the EU costs Britain £40million a day. Just two little ...
Liberal Democrats have been calling for the reform of our democracy for decades. Now as a result of the expenses scandal the public is rightly demanding reform. So far Gordon Brown and David Cameron have suggested tinkering around the edges, pretending to offer real reform when in reality they are defending the status quo. Only the Liberal Democrats have the courage to take on the establishment. {Take Back Power} Nick Clegg writing in the Guradian says "Finally the dam has broken, and everyone is talking about changing Britain's political system. For decades reformers have been thwarted by Westminster inertia. But ...
A good education is one of the most valuable assets in life, yet over the past four years Suffolk has seen a drop in GCSE results and the disruption of the education of our children and young people in three tier areas. We will: Halt the closure of middle schools - the Conservative administration has pushed ahead with closures, despite overwhelming public opposition. Liberal Democrats across Suffolk have been opposed to middle school closures from the start. For stage 1 areas we would consult again with parents, children and the local communities to ask them what they want. Improve educational ...
There was a moment during the Lady Chatterley's Lover trial when the prosecution lost the case and were never able to recover from it. It was when the Prosecutor asked the jury to consider if they "would allow their servants to read this book". From that instant onwards, the case was doomed. Watching Newsnight last night, it felt like a similar moment when the MP for Bournemouth West accepted that he'd spent £50,000 upgrading the "Servant's Wing" of his home and attempted to claim the cost on expenses. Whilst it could be argued that it is commendable that he is ...
Many might see this as being pathetic but I don't, Dan Hannan the Conservative MEP has wrote about how he rather be known as a blogger than an MEP but that's not what he is paid to do or is it? The Telegraph probably do pay him to write the blog on their platform but that doesn't mean that Dan Hannan works for them actually he works for the electorate in the South East and they shouldn't vote him if he prides himself on being a blogger and not an MEP. A blogger doesn't get elected they just start a ...
Following my blog post just after 9 things have changed massively in the world of political conspiracy. Guido has blogged about how Miliband and Johnson are preparing their campaign teams to challenge Brown to a leadership election come the week after the 4th June. on the 8th June Brown will have to face the Parliamentary Labour Party and if the results of the County and Euro elections put Labour behind a minority party then Brown will probably get a grilling and will be told to go. If Brown puts up a fight on the 8th then Labour MP's just need ...
PR Week has a few words of wisdom from me this week, in response to David Cameron's speech about reforming our political system: Liberal Democrat head of innovations Mark Pack told PRWeek that Cameron could make even more use of new media to communicate the work of Parliament to voters. He said: 'There's plenty of scope to use technology to improve Parliament's working and accountability. It's welcome news that David Cameron has joined the long-standing calls from MPs such as the Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson for parliamentary footage to be available on YouTube.' He added: 'The SMS alerts idea is ...
This may just be an unbelievable coincidence! Last night I blogged that the Labour MP for Durham City, Roberta Blackman-Woods, was claiming that households were saving an "average" of £200 a month due to the VAT cut. I calculated this would mean a family would need to spend £8,000 on VAT rated goods a month.I made a return visit to her website where she made the claim this morning and found an
Diabetes and "family time" aside, according to Agent Orange, Lord Rennard is still out and about doing his bit for the cause. Whether this is wise with allegations over his allowances claims still unanswered is another matter.
More at Take Back Power.
I read about Neil Kinnock talking up the chances of the BNP. While doing some work in Burnley for County Council election candidates someone told me Labour were saying that the Lib Dems are a `wasted vote` `as they will never get the Council`. As Burnley has the Labour MP Kitty `artex` Ussher and a brilliant Lib [...]
Today's political website is a MUCH BETTER effort: takebackpower.org is simple, effective, and impactful. If I was to make two tiny criticisms, they would be that I'd have made it relative rather than fixed-width, and text rather than images; and that (again) the navigational structure isn't clear. From an accessibility point of view, images are bad, and most of the site is text so doesn't NEED to be images, and if you want people to read your shit, first you have to make it clear that links are links. Also: unflagged .pdf files are BAD. If you are linking to ...
{crowe} An excellent post on the excellently named Freedom Central this morning highlights the far-Left clique's activities in Wales. The LD blog reveals a TUC hustings to which Labour, Plaid and NO2EU candidates were invited - but none from other parties, including the LDs. The alleged reason for this is that other candidates were deemed "not representative of trade unions." As FC argues back: "Surely it is up to Union members to decide who is representative of them?". Indeed, but that's really not the way these things work, is it? Nonetheless, FC's comments are so pertinent and well articulated that ...
June is Local History Month at Selly Oak Library. A number of free events have been planned, beginning on Monday 1 June 2009, which will involve local authors and historians. You can download the full programme of events for more information. The Birmingham City Council website also has contact details and opening times for Selly Oak Library.
Thu 28th
11:00
Day 3070: Captain Clegg Clobbers Cameron and An Elephant Described by a Committee of Blind Men
Thursday: A week ago, I was raising my fluffy foot for a REVOLUTION! Guess what! We got one! Two days ago, I was demanding that we make Mr Balloon come off the fence, stop posing as a reformer and put up or shut up. Guess what! We have! Today, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Captain Clegg, gets the front page splash in the Grauniad ,setting out a one hundred day plan to save British Democracy in an article that, just like when he called for the defenestration of Mr Speaker of the Housemartin, once again seizes back the initiative! ...
Nick Clegg's 100 day plan now has its own website called Take power back. You can sign his petition there. I'm excited as an excited thing!
That's the topic Nick Clegg is (rightly!) talking about in this evening's Liberal Democrat broadcast on TV. But you can watch it now: (The film is also on YouTube here.) Nick Clegg has laid out not only what needs reform - but also a timetable to achieve it. Sorting out the future of democracy in this country demands radical reforms to both sweep away the stench of fiddling and chiseling - and to seize the opportunity that the expenses scandal offers to break the stranglehold of the establishment, both Tory and Labour (who have voted time and time again to ...
They seek him here. They seek him there. If ever there was an example of failure to lead from Gordon (bunker mentality) Brown - his deafening silence at this time of crisis is it. I find it unimaginable that the Prime Minister of this country has no seeming instinct for what is needed; no sense of purpose in leadership and no ideas for resolution. But that is what we see unfolding before our very eyes. The old ways are dead Gordon. You should have seen what would happen. You should not have dithered and dallied. You should be out there ...
Tabman on Lib Dem Voice makes a FINE point about Call Me Dave's views on proportional representation:Whenever David Cameron mentions the benefit of FPTP, he should immediately be asked to resign in favour of Davidf Davis who "won" the FPTP bit of the election for Conservative leader: http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/conleader05.htm 1st Ballot result: David Davis 62 David Cameron 56 Liam Fox 42 Ken Clarke 38I have too many things to do and not enough time and my brain is all fuzzy this morning. Poo. Roxy continues fine; Byron is getting a bit jealous that she's getting lots of attention, so I'm going ...
It's all go on the political reform front today. Apart from Nick Clegg's op-ed in The Guardian, front page newspaper coverage, detailed policy proposals and new campaign website, there's also the little matter of today's party political broadcast, also on the same theme. It's appearing on TV screens this evening, but you can watch it now:
I was delighted to see how high our European website is coming in Google search when you type in European Elections - and a bit of reassurance that there are still some people out their who recognise that this election is about more than dirty moats, homeless ducks and "growing" families! A friend suggested to me last night that when people on the doorstep were complaining about expenses I should say - oh no, I certainly don't begrudge MPs their bath plugs, after all they are the only people who can afford the hot water to go in the bath ...
Nick Clegg's gone on a PR rampage (the 'public relations' kind) with a clever wheeze of demanding MPs give up their Summer Holiday to find the time to fix the expenses crisis. One of the suggestions is abolishing the House of Lords to be replaced with an elected senate. I have mixed feelings about this - obviously as a retirement home for former MPs and a holiday camp for big donors it's fairly squallid. Yet, at the same time, the Lords have been crucial in blocking the very worst of the Government's anti-Civil Liberties legislation. "Don't worry, it'll never get ...
{chris-davies.jpg} Recently MEPs voted to keep their expenses private in a move that would mask potential abuses that are greater than the House of Commons expenses scandal. North West MEP Chris Davies is campaigning to get the decision reversed. I hope you can spend a few minutes (at least) supporting his campaign. Chris has been a champion of the cause since Tory MEP Den Dover was exposed for claiming £500,000 of 'unjustified' expenses. I am quite a Europhile, but the European parliament will never work properly if people don't know what goes on there. There are good policies on employment ...
News reaches FC of a TUC hustings on Tuesday night, to which only Labour, Plaid and NO2EU candidates were invited. Apparently, the Welsh Lib Dems were not invited because "we wanted to have candidates more representative of trade unions". Surely it is up to Union members to decide who is representative of them? I suppose that the Cardiff TUC leadership believe they know what is best for their members. These undemocratic dinosaurs shouldn't be allowed to keep their grip on Trade Unionism. At least Welsh Lib Dem candidates got to spend their time out on the doorsteps meeting real people ...
Nick Clegg has written in the Guardian today that politicians should be barred from taking their summer holidays until the constitutional crisis sparked by the expenses row is resolved and "every nook and cranny" of the political system is reformed. He has set out a week-by-week plan to achieve the "total reinvention of British politics". In the first two weeks parliament would agree to accept the recommendations of the review into MPs' expenses and allowances by the standards watchdog, draw up a bill to allow for the recall of errant MPs, and impose a £50,000 cap on individual donations to ...
Nick's proposals to strike when the iron is hot, "bar the gates" and lock MPs in until they agree on reforms is exactly the kind of thing we should be saying. It's almost a direct response to my blogpost yesterday. (Yes, I know, I'm not that naive!) Exposing Cameron's proposals for the window-dressing they are and drawing a clear dividing line between us and the establishment is exactly what is required. My heart leapt when I heard the headline on the Today programme this morning. Let's just see how long it takes for this story to permeate the BBC news ...
Here's Nick Clegg's plan in full: Changing Politics For Good A 100 Day Action Plan to save Britain's Democracy Britain's democracy is at a turning point. Not in living memory has confidence in politicians, trust in the system, or faith in the government's capacity to change things been as low as it is today. The expenses scandal has exposed a culture of arrogance and secrecy that has long been at the heart of our democracy. Now the true extent of the rot in the system is clear to people, there is huge and growing public demand for change. This has ...
The Poll that I ran yesterday on this blog has now closed, the question to the poll was "Is Nick Clegg a good Lib Dem leader?" and the results are: Yes: 83% No: 17% Interesting results and I am among the yes people let me confess, I think Nick Clegg is a good leader and will probably take the Lib Dems to a new height in the next two general elections if he doesn't we could always get rid of him and bring back Charles Kennedy who is someone who could take the Lib Dems to new heights!
Thu 28th
09:37
Is Cameron's hollow level of concern about Tory MPs expenses going to be exposed by Kirkbride ?
A few days ago David Cameron made it clear that Andrew MacKay should step down for making a claim on a second home in London. In many ways you might argue that the MP for Bracknell ought to have his first home in his constituency and his second home in London. After all, your main residence shouldn't be the home you spend least time at. So the question is , why is Cameron standing by Mr MacKay's wife and fellow Tory MP Julie Kirkbride. Her list of things that voters would find offensive is longer than those of her husband. ...
The Times has turned its guns onto the BNP today by highlighting a £5,000 political donation that ended up in the personal bank account of Nick Griffin so that the donor could remain a secret. The paper says that Mr Griffin admitted that he had paid the £5,000 donation that appeared to be from a political supporter into his own bank account and then transferred the money to a sympathetic political organisation without alerting the authorities. He said that he did so because the donor, an elderly North London woman who is a member of the BNP, wished to remain ...
Political Betting has a blog post that suggests that Gordon Brown is to have a tough 12 days ahead of him and he might have to go as Leader of the Labour party in the next 12 days according to a report. And personally I am in two minds to if this is actually believable or not. Brown is not liked in the Labour party but them getting rid of him a year or so before the general election is bad news, unless they want to get rid of him and go into the general election over the winter with ...
I've decided to start uploading tunes on YouTube, and likewise I'll share some of them on this blog. This is the intro to what is otherwise quite a fast, loud and grandiose song which I'm still putting together (RSS Readers need to click through to see embedded video). Do watch in HQ as the sound quality is quite poor as it is. Sorry this has absolutely nothing to do with politics!
It's not often that the news headlines are dominated by positive suggestions for improving democracy in our country. But today Nick Clegg has quite rightly been lauded for his radical proposals. (Update: The Take Back Power website has now been launched. This lists all Nick Clegg's proposals in full.) 100 days - 14 weeks - to sort out the mess at Westminster. If it means...
No, you weren't dreaming - you really did wake up to news headlines dominated by the leader of the Lib Dems promenading the party's proposals to reform the UK's democratic processes. Full marks to the party's media operation today - it's a long time since an article by a Lib Dem has made such a splash. There will be some - I see them already appearing in the LDV comments threads - who argue that what Nick Clegg is calling for is hopelessly Utopian. I disagree. What Nick is doing (successfully, in my view) is: (1) setting the bar high ...
I am very excited about Nick's reforms published in the Guardian today! Especially because they include a week by week plan of action - which is what change professional like me really get off on! So, here's a challenge to the Tories - if you're so reformist, then why not join the calls for reform in 100 days, real reform, not just tinkering around the edges like Cameron's plans do? More later, no doubt but I've got to dash now....
As well as the European Elections next week will also see a by-election in the Birmingham Ward of Lozells and Handsworth East.
There's a write-up of the story in the Daily Telegraph.
{Crushed cars} You may have seen the adverts which state that if you scrap your old caryou can get money off your new one. Well, this dubious Labour scheme got off to a chaotic start last week after a row broke out over who should pay VAT on the vehicles! Originally designed to resuscitate the UK motor industry, the scheme gives car and small van owners £2000 off the price of new cars/vans when the old one (most be 10+ years old) is scrapped. Unfortunately, gov't red tape and paperwork cock-ups have significantly stalled the scheme.
Nice to see that all is happy and friendly in Euro-Sceptic Land.... Interesting that the Libertas website has not one single item about the real problems facing the world - not a thing on how Europe needs to work together on financial regulation, jobs, climate change, reducing and preventing crime and bringing its perpetrators to justice. What we need in Brussels is a team of people who are going to devote time and energy not to kicking lumps out of the EU, but making it better, more transparent and accountable and able to deal with the huge challenges facing all ...
Bit of a legal blunder at the Daily Telegraph website today, with a story appearing about the sentences handed down following the death of Baby Peter. One problem: the story includes just under a big photograph, "PLEASE LEGAL (esp, can I say Baby P's killer?)": {Telegraph story on the death of Baby Peter} The answer, by the way, I think is "no" as the convictions were for allowing Baby Peter to die rather than any of them being convicted of directly killing him. That's because of the difficulty of actually proving which individual in the household took which specific acts ...
Despite the somewhat inclement weather, yesterday saw me at the Suffolk Show, the annual 'agrifest' of sheep, cattle and agricultural equipment. Don't ask me to explain what most of the latter does, but it is fearsomely complex looking stuff... For two days every year, town meets country, and you can see the difference. The bourgoisie of the county set, in (often garish) jacket, tie and chinos, farmers in hard wearing yet practical outfits and the Ipswich locals, keen to enjoy free samples of local food, drink beer and point at weird and wonderful farm animals, mingle under the supervision of ...
Warm words and rhetoric are easy. We must seize the mood and enact a radical programme of reform within 100 days. Finally the dam has broken, and everyone is talking about changing Britain's political system. For decades reformers have been thwarted by Westminster inertia. But the MPs' expenses scandal has overturned old certainties and made change...
Thu 28th
08:40Homeless. under threat of eviction if so i need to find out how you where treated by your council.
I am finding more and more cases where residents have found little help from their council in relation to this matter. Today i start to trawl one more department set up to help and i beleive is failing the people of Salford.
Stamping your foot petulantly and demanding voters make their decision on your agenda has never been a hugely successful election strategy, especially for a smaller party. That didn't stop the Lib Dems giving it a damn good shot in more than one election ("You will vote on PR, damn you. Don't ask us about coalitions.....please?"). More recently the party has taken the seemingly radical step of trying to stick to what people care about. Of Fair Votes you would not hear a peep. The talk was all crime, education, health, the economy. Quite right too. The current Lib Dem european ...
The answer should be obvious. Julie Kirkbride's comment piece in The Times today is redolent of the amateur parliaments of days of yore. In sum: if I didn't use my family as child carers and office workers, and pay them through the expenses system, then I wouldn't be able to be an MP and a mother at the same time. (Everyone else has to employ child carers.) Kirkbride's brother lives off his investments and so has lots of free time. (What about all the other women who work who don't have rich brothers?) And finally, she argues that the press ...
Here...
What a pity Swinton south "Liberal Democrats2 cannot unite against real Nazis but since you are in a recist party committed to assisting in genocide, child rape & organlegging that seems impossible. Have you any evidence whatsoever that the BNP are remotely as "extremist right wing" as your openly Nazi group? [...]
Padding round Kensal Green cemetery this little gravestone stood out amidst the significant undergrowth - and considering the scale of the undergrowth...! It's the grave of Henry Boisragon and his two children Guy Boisragon (a winner of the Victoria Cross) and Mabel Dent. Cllr Carol Shaw, Cllr Simon Green and myself are shown here - the grave is immediately adjacent to Simon';s ward and he has been a staunch supporter of the armed forces and Royal British Legion and Carol's father fought alongside the gurkha's in WWII. The grave reads: In loving memorial Major Genl. Henry F.M. Boisragon Late of ...
Nick Clegg has an article in this morning's Guardian outlining his 100-day action plan to reform British politics: let us bar the gates of Westminster and stop MPs leaving for their summer holidays until this crisis has been sorted out, and every nook and cranny of our political system has been reformed.The Lib Dem leader's proposals are summarised in an accompanying news report: • By week three legislation would be passed to introduce fixed parliamentary terms of four years from 2010, denying the prime minister the right to name the date of general elections.• By week four the new Commons ...
Of course he was no longer a baby when he died, but at least we are allowed to give him a name now. Anyway, the BBC reports that the sentences in the case are to be reviewed to see if they should be referred to the Court of Appeal: Last week Baby Peter's mother, her boyfriend and their lodger were jailed for causing or allowing Peter's death.Peter's mother must serve at least five years and the lodger at least three years. The boyfriend was given life for rape, with a 10-year minimum term.He had been convicted of raping a two-year-old ...
2 big stories LDV's daily glimpse into the world of media and views. Our biggest story today has already made the news here at LDV, but it's too good for us not to trail again: Nick Clegg has launched a campaign for 100 days of proper discussion about real reform. It's the front of the Guardian: the main story; the article by Clegg himself, and the version of the story where Clegg mocks Cameron's pathetic attempts at real reform. There's been a wide variety of responses to the article here and in the comments over at the Guardian - ranging ...
To the horror of the Tory leadership, which believes the expenses claims of grandees are reviving old stereo-types, Butterfill appeared slightly confused as he explained that today's Daily Telegraph had mistakenly claimed that he had servants. "It is a gross misrepresentation of what I said to the young lady at the Telegraph," he told the BBC Newsnight programme as he denied having built servants' quarters from his parliamentary allowance. "I purchased a house in Woking in derelict condition. I gutted and rewired it. I extended the living room, I extended the kitchen, and made a family room off the kitchen; ...
Well, up to now I've been a fan, and to be brutally honest on the whole I still am bar one of their drivers who is completely sexist.Most drivers as they pull out of the Western Harbour terminus (termini?) will pull up to collect if they see someone running towards the terminus.Not this driver, well, if you're male he doesn't (two mornings running and not just me) but if you're female oh he does then.I appreciate they will use their discretion dependent on timing but this particular driver is just arrogant.If he thinks its going to ruin my day and ...
feels all grown up and professional cos he went to a seminar yesterday and is now about to have a phone conference with a marketing expert. # thinks life would be a lot easier if only it wasn't so difficult. Although perhaps it's only difficult because it's not easy - who knows? # is having a Chinese for the first time since the food poisoning incident. Different restaurant and no prawns but still - wish me luck... # is well-fed and happy #
I return to a subject I glossed over a week ago - the rather unfortunate choice of the Houses of Parliament in the banner of Labourhome's redesign. I still think, symbolically, it's the wrong imagery sending the wrong message. Alex Hilton replied: I'm really sorry Charlotte but one of the greatest achievement of the Labour movement was getting the working class into parliament, something quite unpopular with the liberals at that time. Of course, after 100 years, I'm not associating you with the attitudes of your predecessors. I thought that was interesting (in an 'understanding what's going through people's heads') ...
I need a second blog. My life isn't just politics and blogging. Well, it's not much more than that, but I do try. I seem to be going through a bit of an arty phase. Two or three weeks ago the boss at my company decides we need to be able to make iPhone applications. Sure, I tell him - I can do that. "I'm going to need a Mac though." It's a hard life. So a Macbook duly arrived and... well over the last few weeks I've almost completely moved from Windows to Apple. I just find I can ...
All, At the Town Council meeting tonight Alan Noyce was re-elected Mayor and Simon Welch his Deputy. As one of the three candidates in the Deputy Mayor election may I be the first person to say that the best candidate won. As Alan's proposer for Mayor, his experience will be much needed over the next year. Regards, Philip
